LONGFELLOW

In a heartfelt letter to Walter Mainwaring, Esq., of Lothian College, Oxford, the author shares his reluctance to join a discussion on Browning’s “Sordello,” preferring to visit during the May races. This preference leads him into a nostalgic journey through his bookshelves, particularly revisiting Longfellow’s poetry, which he had not explored in two decades. Through Longfellow’s writings, the author is transported back to his youth, experiencing a flood of memories that remind him of the profound impact poetry has on the shaping of one’s sensibilities through different stages of life.

The author reflects on the evolution of his literary taste, acknowledging Longfellow’s significant influence on his understanding of poetry’s essence beyond the youthful admiration for Scott’s battle pieces. He appreciates Longfellow’s reflective and moralistic qualities, which once offered fresh insights, though they may now seem trite with the wisdom of age. Longfellow’s verses, particularly from “Voices of the Night,” evoke an autumnal, reflective mood, stirring a sense of connection to a more innocent time, marked by simple pleasures and the company of kind, now-vanished faces from one’s past.

Though recognizing the occasional overt moralizing in Longfellow’s work as disenchanting, the author admires Longfellow’s ability to evoke vivid imagery and emotional resonance, citing poems like “The Fire of Driftwood” and “The Children’s Hour.” These works, devoid of pretense and filled with genuine sentiment, reaffirm the author’s affection for Longfellow, contrasting his sincere, life-affirming poetry with the more detached, eerie verses of Poe.

Longfellow’s poetry, interwoven with the reader’s personal memories and experiences, stands as a testament to the enduring power of words to connect us to our past selves and to each other. The author’s musings culminate in a celebration of Longfellow’s contribution to the literary landscape, highlighting his unique ability to capture the essence of human experience, despite the occasional heavy-handed moral.